Jennifer Tilly

Jennifer Tilly
Jennifer Tilly in 2006
Born	Jennifer Ellen Chan (1958-09-16) September 16, 1958 Harbor City, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stephens College
Occupation(s)	Actress, poker player
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Sam Simon ​ (m. 1984⁠–⁠1991)​
Partner	Phil Laak (2004–present)

Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer Ellen Chan; September 16, 1958) is a Canadian-American actress and poker player. She is a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Olive Neal in the film Bullets over Broadway (1994). Her other film roles include Let It Ride (1989) Made in America (1993), Bound (1996), Liar Liar (1997) and Bride of Chucky (1998). She has done extensive voice-over work including Celia in Monsters, Inc. (2001). She is the older sister of actress Meg Tilly.

Early life

Tilly was born Jennifer Ellen Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles. She is the first child of Harry Chan, a used car salesman, and Patricia (née Tilly), a Canadian schoolteacher and former stage actress. Her father was of Chinese descent and her mother was of Irish, First Nations and Finnish ancestry. She has an older brother, Steve, and two younger sisters, Meg and Rebecca.

Following her parents' divorce when she was five, Tilly was raised by her mother and stepfather, John Ward, on rural Texada Island, British Columbia. Her mother divorced again when Tilly was 16, and moved to Victoria, where Tilly attended Belmont High School.

Tilly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Stephens College in Missouri.

Career

Acting

In 1983, Tilly had small roles and had a recurring guest role on Hill Street Blues as Gina Srignoli, a mobster's widow who becomes romantically involved with detective Henry Goldblume. She played Frasier Crane's seductive-but-ditzy date Kandi Pearson on an episode of the fourth season of Cheers and appeared as a similar character on the eleventh season of Frasier.

She appeared as Garry's girlfriend on It's Garry Shandling's Show, which aired on Showtime. She was also cast as a high-end prostitute on the short-lived comedy Key West, alongside Fisher Stevens. In 1989, she had a prominent role in the comedy Let It Ride, starring Richard Dreyfuss. Tilly's breakthrough film role was as a singing waitress in The Fabulous Baker Boys in a role that was written specially for her by Steve Kloves. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a hopelessly bad actress in Woody Allen's Bullets over Broadway but she lost to her co-star Dianne Wiest. In 1994, she also had a small role in The Getaway with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.

Tilly at 2007 World Poker Tour

Tilly starred in Bound (1996), directed by The Wachowskis, which portrays a lesbian relationship her character has with Gina Gershon. She played Samantha Cole in the Jim Carrey comedy Liar Liar (1997). In Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000), she played a stripper and part-time dominatrix. She portrayed gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the Peter Bogdanovich film The Cat's Meow (2001). She gained some additional popularity in recent years for her portrayal of serial killer Tiffany Ray for three of the six Child's Play films. The character was first introduced in the fourth installment of the franchise, Bride of Chucky and subsequently appeared in Seed of Chucky and the most recent film, Curse of Chucky. In Seed of Chucky, however, she plays a dual role providing the voice for Tiffany and also playing an exaggerated version of herself.

In 2001, she starred as Crystal Allen in the Broadway revival of The Women.

She is a semi-regular cast member on Family Guy, voicing the Griffin family's neighbor, Bonnie Swanson. She has also done voice-over work for the films Monsters, Inc., Stuart Little and Home on the Range, as well as the children's series Hey Arnold!. In Disney's The Haunted Mansion, she portrays Madame Leota (a head in a crystal ball). She has been active in the theatre, winning a Theater World Award for her performance in the off-Broadway play One Shoe Off.

She had a starring role on the sitcom Out of Practice, which starred Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing. The series was cancelled in May 2006. About this time, Tilly started dividing her time between her film career and professional poker. By the end of 2008, she returned to her film and television career. In 2009, Tilly made her Chinese film debut in the Christina Yao-directed Empire of Silver playing Mrs. Landdeck.

In 2012, she returned to Broadway in Don't Dress for Dinner, garnering an Audience Choice Award nomination for her portrayal of mistress Suzanne. In 2013, she starred in the Wallace Shawn/Andre Gregory collaboration Grasses of a Thousand Colors which premiered at the Royal Court theatre in London in 2009 and then moved to the Joseph Papp theatre in 2013. She regularly appears in the comedy revue Celebrity Autobiography

Poker

Jennifer Tilly
Tilly after her win at the 2005 World Series of Poker $1,000 Ladies Only Event – No Limit Hold'em.
Nickname(s)	The Unabombshell, J Tilla the Killa
Residence	Los Angeles, California
World Series of Poker
Bracelet(s)	1
Money finish(es)	13
Highest ITM Main Event finish	None
World Poker Tour
Title(s)	None
Final table(s)	None
Money finish(es)	11

On June 27, 2005, Tilly won a World Series of Poker bracelet (and $158,625) in the Ladies' No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em event, beating 600 other players. She followed up this accomplishment on September 1, 2005, by winning the third World Poker Tour Ladies Invitational Tournament held at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. Tilly has appeared in the GSN Poker Royale series. Tilly played in the Celebrity Poker Showdown which aired June 14, 2006, on Bravo. She was knocked out in third place by Bravo's online poker champion Ida Siconolfi.

When playing poker on television, Tilly often wears low-cut tops with push-up bras that expose lots of cleavage to "look cute", but is quick to add that "if people are really playing poker, they don't care. Nothing looks better to them than a pair of aces. They're not looking at your pair. They're looking at their pair." Tilly appears in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition video game (along with boyfriend, Phil Laak) that was released in 2007 by Activision.

In a television interview in 2005, Tilly stated that at that point in her career she was more interested in pursuing poker than acting. By December 2008, Tilly announced her retirement from poker as a career. In her monthly column in Bluff Magazine, she said: "I love poker but greatness in poker is an elusive dream. There are too many variants. Trying to find validation in poker is like trying to find a virgin in a whorehouse. I'm not giving up poker entirely – gambling is an addiction after all. I'm just going to treat it more like a hobby and less like a career."

In January 2010, she resumed her poker career, and as of May 2016, Tilly's live tournament winnings exceeded $916,000.

Personal life

Tilly was married to Sam Simon, developer and producer of The Simpsons, from 1984 until 1991. She has been in a relationship with poker player Phil Laak since 2004.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	No Small Affair	Mona	Film debut
1985	Moving Violations	Amy Hopkins
1986	Inside Out	Amy
1987	He's My Girl	Lisa
1988	Johnny Be Good	Connie Hisler
1988	Remote Control	Allegra James
1988	Rented Lips	Mona Lisa
1988	High Spirits	Miranda
1989	Far from Home	Amy
1989	Let It Ride	Vicki
1989	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Blanche "Monica" Moran
1991	The Doors	Okie Girl	Uncredited
1991	Scorchers	Talbot
1992	Shadow of the Wolf	Igiyook
1993	Made in America	Stacy
1994	Double Cross	Melissa
1994	Bullets over Broadway	Olive Neal	Nominated for Academy Award
1994	Embrace of the Vampire	Marika
1994	The Getaway	Fran Carvey
1995	Bird of Prey	Kily Griffith
1995	Man with a Gun	Rena Rushton/Kathy Payne
1996	The Pompatus of Love	Tarzaan
1996	House Arrest	Cindy Figler
1996	Bound	Violet
1996	American Strays	Patty Mae
1997	Liar Liar	Samantha Cole
1997	Edie & Pen	Edie Piper
1997	Bella Mafia	Moyra Luciano
1997	The Wrong Guy	Lynn Holden
1998	Relax...It's Just Sex	Tara Ricotto
1998	Hoods	Mary Crippa
1998	Bride of Chucky	Tiffany
1998	Music from Another Room	Nina
1999	The Muse	Herself
1999	Goosed	Charlene
1999	Do Not Disturb	Cathryn
1999	Bartok the Magnificent	Piloff (voice)	Direct-to-video
1999	Stuart Little	Mrs. Camille Stout	Voice
1999	Play It to the Bone	Ringside Fan
2000	Cord	Helen
2000	Bruno	Dolores
2000	Dancing at the Blue Iguana	Jo
2000	The Crew	Ferris "aka Maureen" Lowenstein
2001	Dirt	Hooker
2001	Fast Sofa	Ginger Quail
2001	Monsters, Inc.	Celia Mae	Voice
2001	Ball in the House	Dot
2001	The Cat's Meow	Louella Parsons
2003	Hollywood North	Gillian Stevens
2003	The Haunted Mansion	Madame Leota
2003	Happy End	Edna
2003	Jericho Mansions	Donna Cherry
2004	Second Best	Carole
2004	Perfect Opposites	Elyse Steinberg
2004	Home on the Range	Grace	Voice
2004	El Padrino	Sebeva
2004	Saint Ralph	Nurse Alice
2004	Love on the Side	Alma Kerns
2004	Seed of Chucky	Tiffany/Herself
2005	Bailey's Billion$	Dolores Pennington
2005	Lil' Pimp	Miss De La Croix	Voice
2005	The Civilization of Maxwell Bright	Dr. O'Shannon
2005	Tideland	Queen Gunhilda
2006	The Poker Movie	Herself
2007	Intervention
2008	Deal	Karen "Razor" Jones
2008	The Caretaker	Miss Perry
2008	Bart Got a Room	Melinda
2008	Inconceivable	Salome "Sally" Marsh
2009	An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong	Mrs. Rundell
2009	Imps
2009	Made in Romania	Herself
2009	Empire of Silver	Mrs. Landdeck
2010	The Making of Plus One	Amber
2012	30 Beats	Erika
2013	The Secret Lives of Dorks	Ms. Stewart
2013	Curse of Chucky	Tiffany Ray	Cameo, Direct-to-video
2015	Unity	Narrator	Documentary
2016	A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits	Divine	Direct-to-video

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Oh Madeline	Laurie	Episode: "Madeline Acts Forward at the Retreat"
1983	Boone	Sonia	Episode: "Words and Music"
1984	Shaping Up	Shannon Winters	4 episodes
1984–1985	Hill Street Blues	Gina Srignoli	6 episodes
1985	Remington Steele	Blitzen/Eva Wilson	Episode: "Dancer, Prancer, Donner and Steele"
1986	Cheers	Candi Pearson	Episode: "Second Time Around"
1989	Moonlighting	Nurse Saundra	Episode: "Plastic Fantastic Lovers"
1993	At Home with the Webbers	Miranda Webber	Television film
1993	Key West	Savannah Sumner	13 episodes
1993	Heads	Tina Abbot	Television film
1997	Bella Mafia	Moyra Luciano	Television film
2000	Hey Arnold!	Lola (voice)	Episode: "Ernie in Love"
1999–2002, 2005–present	Family Guy	Bonnie Swanson (voice)
2001	The Kid	Waitress (voice)	Television film
2001	Sister Mary Explains It All	Philomena Rostovich	Television film
2002	The Magnificent Ambersons	Fanny Minafer	Television film
2004	Frasier	Kim	Episode: "Miss Right Now"
2005–2006	Out of Practice	Crystal	14 episodes
2006	The Initiation of Sarah	Dr. Eugenia Hunter	Television film
2009	The Cleveland Show	Bonnie Swanson (voice)	Pilot episode
2010	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Terpsie Pratt	Episode: "Take My Life, Please!"
2011	Drop Dead Diva	Ginny	Episode: "Dream Big"
2011	Modern Family	Darlene	Episodes: 2 episodes
2012	RuPaul's Drag Race	Herself – Guest Judge	Episode "Frenemies"
2012	The Simpsons	Herself (voice)	Episode: "Gone Abie Gone"
2013–2014	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	The Sorceress (voice)	2 episodes
2015	Orphan Black	Scorpion (voice) uncredited	1 episode

Awards and nominations

Acting awards

• Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Bullets over Broadway
• American Comedy Award nomination
• CableAce Award nomination Best Actress – It's Garry Shandling's Show
• Theater World Award, Most Promising Newcomer – One Shoe Off
• Dramalogue Award – Vaniti
• Gemini Award For Best Actress – Heads
• Fanta Festival Best Actress – Bride of Chucky
• Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award Best Actress – Bound
• Golden Gate Award – GLAAD Media Award for media professionals who increase the understanding of the LGBT community
• Florida Film Festival Award Artistic Achievement Award
• DVD exclusive Award Best Actress (in a DVD Premiere Movie)
• Eyegore Award Eyegore
• Asheville Film Festival Career AChievement Award 2006
• San Diego Film Festival Award Achievement in Acting
• WIFTS Visionary Award 2010 Best Actress – Intervention, and Inconceivable.

Poker awards

• World Series of Poker Bracelet: In 2005, Tilly won the $1,000 Ladies' No Limit Hold'em; the prize was $158,335.
• CardPlayer Best Celebrity Player of the Year
• WPT Ladies Night Champion
• WPT Bellagio Cup 5K (124,455)

External links

• Jennifer Tilly at IMDb
• Jennifer Tilly at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jennifer Tilly at the TCM Movie Database
• Jennifer Tilly at AllMovie
• Jennifer Tilly Bio at Tribute.ca